Irlam FC 1 Ashton Town FC 3

A lacklustre performance allowed visiting side Ashton Town to make the most of Irlam’s defensive frailties.

Having picked up a hard-earned point at Cheadle Town on Wednesday evening, finishing 2-2 courtesy of first-half goals from Irlam’s Theo Bailey Jones and Ryan McGreevy before the home side pegged the score back to 2-2, Irlam’s hope to carry the performance into the weekend didn’t materialise.

A lacklustre performance allowed visiting side Ashton Town to make the most of Irlam’s defensive frailties, the game ending in a 3-1 defeat for the Silver Street side.

Early action in the first half was shared, with the visitors firing over the Irlam goal early on, while a decent cross fired by Pegg into the Ashton area was collected by Rooney in the visitors’ goal.

Irlam’s next chance came via Irlam’s Chris Rowan; the number eight just firing wide.

As the game settled down, Irlam again suffered in possession, and a loose ball in midfield led to a lofted pass into the path of Ashton Town’s Sean Robinson, who quickly shrugged off Irlam’s Danny Johnson to run in and fire low into the Irlam goal to open the scoring for the visitors.

Thehalf ended with some good chances, successive attempts from Roan and Bailey Jones went just over the Ashton bar, while some great work form Irlam’s Adam Pegg put in McGreevy, the Irlam forward just going wide with his shot before the break.

The second half started in thrilling fashion, as Ashton’s Bradley Smart crashed a shot against Irlam’s post.

At the other end, some excellent work around the Ashton area by Paul Lynch led to the Irlam’s number six being felled just outside of the penalty area.

The free kick, taken by Pegg, was sweetly struck as the left footer bent his shot around the Ashton wall and into the bottom corner.

But just five minutes after the equaliser, Ashton’s Michael Boyle set off on a run from just inside the Irlam half, and with no challenge offered by the home side it was left to Boyle to finish what he’d started to stroke the ball past Brewer.

Any hopes of an Irlam revival were quashed when a lofted ball from midfield found Boyle in space down the left, this time Boyle turning provider to curl a cross into Irlam’s area, the ball finding the far post for a simple tap-in by Ashton substitute Michael Cummins to make it 3-1 with minutes left to play.

On the final whistle, a disappointed Irlam were left to reflect on a wasted chance to get back into the game.

Irlam FC are in Challenge Cup action this coming Saturday, a home draw meaning they will welcome Formby FC to Silver Street. Kick-off is 3pm.

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